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Health and safety precautions during the pandemic have led the Air Force to eliminate parts of basic training. But some military observers question whether the changes are leaving airmen unprepared for duty.

ABC News’ Matthew Dowd says shifts are happening here, too, but will take longer because of Texas’ long history of being a deep red state.

A UNT epidemiologist says it’s not too late to keep Texas from going the way of California, where hospital ICU units have reached capacity.

Decades after the start of Modernism, a handful of artists wanted to make art that was part of society again.

We certainly live in unsettled times. Even as the New Year begins and we hope it will be an improvement, not many people are thinking that things are going to instantly return to normal.  On the contrary, we will probably be living with the effects of the crescendoing trauma of the past few years for quite some time.

Those same remarks could have been uttered 100 years ago without changing a single word. Artists in Europe looked around in 1920 and surveyed a society that had been completely uprooted and destroyed.  The most devasting war that anyone could imagine had been followed by a global pandemic that killed more people than the war did.  In the face of this, what were European artists to do? 

A new exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City offers us one possible

In episode 96 of Downtown Depot, host Austin Meek interviews Dillon Meek, Mayor of Waco. Dillon discusses the City’s ongoing response to the Covid-19 pandemic, projects in the pipeline for downtown, and his visions for a safe and prosperous 2021 in Waco.

An expert in environmental health and disease, Benjamin Ryan, clinical associate professor of environmental science at Baylor, has been called on by organizations like the United Nations, World Health Organization and more to address disasters and disease. In this Baylor Connections, he shares what it means for communities to be resilient in the face of such challenges and explains a program he and other colleagues developed which has helped over 4,000 communities around the world equip and prepare.

Randy Garutti, CEO of Shake Shake, brings to our attention a new generation of consumers who embrace “Conscious Capitalism.”

RANDY GARUTTI CALLS IT “CONSCIOUS CAPITALISM” — AND THE CONCEPT IS SPREADING AMONG BUSINESSES TODAY. IT’S BECAUSE OF THE POWERFUL INFLUENCE OF THE NEW GENERATION OF CONSUMERS THAT COMPANIES ARE CHANGING THE WAY THEY DO BUSINESS.

THE CEO OF SHAKE SHACK SAYS IT’S NOT ABOUT THE PRODUCT ANY MORE, BUT THE USER EXPERIENCE AND THE VALUES OF THE COMPANY. WHETHER A BUSINESS IS MARKETING A SERVICE OR A PRODUCT, IT’S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS.

Especially in the world we’re living in today, with Millennials and Gen Z, the beauty of 

Hello!  I’m Jim McKeown.  Welcome to Likely Stories, a weekly review of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

Lisa See has written a number of fun and interesting stories of Asian women.  The latest such story I read is China Dolls.  It describes the control young men have over their sisters from 1938 to 1988.

Though seniors of al ethnicities make up the largest number of COVID-19 fatalities, the rate of death among working-age people is higher for Black and Latino Texans.

Existing infrastructure, quality of life and politics are all likely to play a role in the military’s decision.

Providing a million more Texas adults with health insurance could mean billions for hospitals, economy.

Remembering a pianist who created a style of jazz all his own.

I don’t think I would’ve expected an internationally renowned jazzman to have started off in life wanting to be a rancher instead of wanting to play the piano. And it probably isn’t the case very often.  But, it was the case once.

This month is the 100th anniversary of the birth of pianist Dave Brubeck. Brubeck was born in Concord, California on December 6, 1920. His mom taught him and his two older brothers piano lessons. And, as he remembered, his brothers took to music but he did not. He didn’t want to play the piano.  He wanted to follow his dad into ranching.

In the late 1930s, he enrolled in the veterinary program at what’s now the University of the Pacific but apparently his professors recognized something in him even if he did not.  His zoology professor told him to change his major to music and stop wasting both their time.  He graduated in 1942, was drafted into the Army,

The Pilgrim Travelers ruled the gospel highway in the 1950s with songs like this arrangement of the old spiritual, "Troubled in Mind.

Hear the full song here.

I’m Jim McKeown, welcome to Likely Stories, a weekly review of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

I once attended an American Library Association Convention, and I found myself in line for an inscribed copy of Lust by Susan Minot.  Unlike many authors that day, she had a comfortable demeanor as though we were longtime friends.  She signed my book, “Thanks for being the first in line that day.”  I recently got a copy of her latest book, a collection of short stories, Why I Don’t Write.  Her prose is fluid, captivating, and downright funny.